The discovery, in 1884, of shards of historic pottery in the Yayoi neighborhood of present-day Tokyo lent the area’s name to a whole 1,300 years (roughly 1,000 BCE to 300 AD) of Japanese civilization. Distinct from the ornate ‘rope-patterned’ styles that preceded them, the loosened shapes of Yayoi pots reflected a newly agrarian focus, prioritizing utility over décor, quickness over formalism. The ceramics that emerge from the light-filled Los Angeles studio of Shio Kusaka feel similarly more concerned with life and lightness than the burden of tradition. Kusaka’s pots can incorporate everything: from the wondrous – dinosaurs! – to the quotidian sweetness of golden seed-studded strawberries.
Born in Morioka, Japan, Kusaka was inspired by the elegant dishes and cups that her grandmother used in traditional tea ceremonies, incorporating the ritual’s moments of reflection into her own process. When Kusaka moved to Los Angeles in 2003, the city’s thriving ceramic and crafts community allowed her to experiment with the shapes of clay as much as with the finishes she could use to adorn them.
Read more at Frieze.